Endowment

Your Endowment Gift Sustains a Profound Mandate: 
Our Mission to Care and Our Mission to Cure  

A gift to the endowment is one of the most significant ways to support Wake Forest Baptist. Endowed funds provide sustained support, in perpetuity, for our most important activities: 

• Recruiting the most talented students and faculty
• Generating leading edge research
• Providing expertise and compassionate care for patients in our region and nation

In establishing an endowed fund, you as a donor decide what the purpose and name of the fund will be. Endowments often serve as a way to create a lasting tribute or memorial in honor of a special individual.   

A Gift for Always  

Endowed funds generate a continuous stream of income, making it possible for Wake Forest Baptist to weather the ebb and flow of other sources of funding. Endowed funds have a powerful, lasting impact on the strength of Wake Forest Baptist. The amount needed to establish a new endowment varies, depending on the endowment type. There is no minimum gift if you wish to contribute to an existing endowment. 

 Example: How One Type of Endowment Gift Works  

1. An alumna makes a $50,000 gift to the Wake Forest School of Medicine to establish an endowed scholarship named in memory of her parents.
2. A fund agreement is drafted between the School of Medicine and the donor, guaranteeing that her gift will be added to the Wake Forest University endowment, and used solely for its stated purpose.
3. The donor’s named scholarship fund buys units in the Wake Forest University endowment pool, much as one buys shares in a mutual fund.
4. The Trustee Investment Policy Committee of Wake Forest University prudently invests the donor’s gift to optimize long-term returns, create consistent annual payouts to the School’s operating budget, and preserve purchasing power for future generations of faculty and students.
5. A predetermined portion of the annual return (currently 5.3 percent of a three-year moving market value) is used to provide a scholarship for a student. The fund’s principal remains intact.
6. The remainder of the annual return is reinvested in the named fund’s principal as a hedge against inflation and to generate growth.
7. The named fund continues to grow, ensuring future scholarship support.  

Investing in the Future

The year ending June 30, 2010 was a successful year for the Wake Forest endowment pool. After a difficult 2009, we not only earned an investment return of 11.1 percent for the year, but also reduced the risk we took to achieve that return by almost half.

During the year, we outperformed our policy benchmark by nearly 1.4 percent and lowered the active risk profile of the portfolio while maintaining a robust liquidity position.